A few months ago I had an operation and was told I would lose feeling in my lower jaw because of it.Well, one half regained full feeling within a month but the other side still feels nothing apart from an annoying itch.

How can I feel an itch on that side of my jaw if it can't feel anything else?

I'm not sure what actually causes this, but I experienced something similar after a smallish ear operation: I lost the feeling from the outside of my tongue. I later regained full feeling, but the itch remains. Every time I press my left ear, the left side of my tongue itches annoyingly :P

The doctor said that he had to "stretch" the nerve a bit. Maybe in my case there is only partial neural damage, so the original signal gets to the brain, but also some additional signals (the itch) because of a damaged nerve. And then what comes to you, maybe the nerve is completely severed or damaged, and the signal your brain receives is not "real", but just something the damaged neurons cause. Do you feel the itch all the time, or when you press your jaw or some other place between the operation site and your jaw?

The itch comes and goes, it also seems to be random when it occurs. Sometimes its when I eat, sometimes its just there even if I'm not pressing my jaw together.And it only occurs on the left side of my lower jaw, around the corner of my mouth.

A disfunctional innervation of the muscle, perhaps? The muscle attached to the corner of your mouth, or maybe somewhere along the jawline. And the innervation happened after your surgery, and found its way there during the healing process? Itching has to be an electrical impulse stimulating a muscle fiber, yes? with another neuron that sends the message of "itch" to the brain?

kolean wrote:A disfunctional innervation of the muscle, perhaps? The muscle attached to the corner of your mouth, or maybe somewhere along the jawline. And the innervation happened after your surgery, and found its way there during the healing process? Itching has to be an electrical impulse stimulating a muscle fiber, yes? with another neuron that sends the message of "itch" to the brain?

I have had my condition for over 10 years now. First it was worse, I could not taste with the left side of my tongue and the itching sensation was quite strong. Then maybe after a month or two the sense of taste came back and the itching ceased a bit - but after that, for 10 years or so, nothing has changed. In my case, I believe the nerve is permanently damaged but not completely severed. That is, it still transmits the signal from the tongue to the brain as it's supposed to do. However, the itch I get when I press my ear (the site of operation) I believe originates from the site of nerve damage and has actually nothing to do with the tongue. The tongue is not itching, the brain just thinks so because the signal comes along a neuron innervating the tongue. And the itch is most likely an artefact signal that is induced by the physical pressure on the damaged neurons.